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Being an English Teacher in Thailand

There's a reader who wrote in to me asking me about discrimination against Asians when applying for jobs as an English teacher. I tried replying to her email but it was mispelled so I could not reply her via email. But I guess its better for me to write a short entry about this issue too.

Yes, you can still find a job but sadly if you are an Asian then you would find it a bit more difficult to find a good placement in Thailand. Yes, they do prefer Caucasian. I've met a some ESL teachers who couldn't even form proper sentences or speak in proper English and yet they were hired!

There are language schools or International schools that might hire Asians without any discriminations but their basic requirement is not TEFL but a degree in Education. Unless you can prove your worth, the chances of getting a fair and well paid job as a ESL teacher would be hard. Especially so in Bangkok. But if you planning to teach in the rural areas (where pay is really very low and working with a much bigger class and more workload) then it should be a non-issue.

1 comment:

kc
said...

If in Singapore a school were to choose to hire either an english man or a china lady to teach english, i think there are 2 things that are important in the decision making that can be discussed. The first is in the qualification and experience aspects, but the more important consideration should be the personality aka attitude of the prospect.The right candidate has to be able to mix or gel successfully into the company's culture. Getting a prima donna with an attitude problem that will hurt the morale and motivation of incumbent staffs into the company is every boss worst nightmare.